AUGUST
Garden essentials:
- Relax in the warm, ripe garden.
- Weed, and spread fresh compost after watering.
- Divide iris, early poppies.
- Fertilize and water strawberry plants after harvest.
- Mail fall bulb orders.
- Visit farmers' markets and U-Pick farms.
Vegetables year-round:
- Harvest extra produce for a food bank.
- Pull out finished crops, replenish soil and replant.
- Sow fall beets, spinach and turnips in the first week.
- Plant out July-sown cole crops.
- Keep planting leaf lettuce, radishes, overwintering spinach and Swiss chard all month.
Lawn care:
- Water and mow to about 2 to 2½ inches.
- Survey the lawn, planning which areas need fall renovation.
- Plan to eliminate lawns on steep slopes
